Dover Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Dover Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META - Free Report) by 132.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,283 shares of the social networking company's stock after purchasing an additional 732 shares during the quarter. Dover Advisors LLC's holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 191,198,005 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $111,948,344,000 after buying an additional 1,502,553 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 49,181,127 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $28,719,970,000 after buying an additional 1,020,519 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,317,434 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $24,777,282,000 after buying an additional 1,049,121 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Meta Platforms by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,317,105 shares of the social networking company's stock worth $23,606,338,000 after buying an additional 1,141,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Meta Platforms in the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,949,512,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 921 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.25, for a total value of $552,830.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,269,825.75. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 7,802 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $701.96, for a total value of $5,476,691.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,550,434.92. This represents a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 85,593 shares of company stock worth $56,008,477. 13.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on META. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Meta Platforms in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. DA Davidson cut their target price on Meta Platforms from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $650.00 to $683.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $704.26.

Meta Platforms Price Performance

META opened at $682.87 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $604.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $619.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $1.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $442.65 and a 12-month high of $740.91.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The social networking company reported $6.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.33 by $1.10. The business had revenue of $42.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.45 billion. Meta Platforms had a return on equity of 38.17% and a net margin of 37.91%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.71 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 26.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. Meta Platforms's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.19%.

Meta Platforms Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.

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